Early Trading: All eyes on Department of Player Safety after Geekie-Davies altercation

Lightning forward Conor Geekie will have a hearing Thursday for leaving the players' bench on a legal line change for the purpose of starting an altercation. TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger joins Gino Reda to discuss the spotlight on the Department of Player Safety and the possible negative ripple effect from the NHL Global Series.

Reda: The Department of Player Safety is in the news again. Conor Geekie called on the carpet for coming off the bench to jump Josh Davies after Davies nailed Victor Hedman last night. To discuss that and the greater implications of it, here's our Insider, Darren Dreger.

Darren, is it safe to say that a lot of eyes are on this hearing, not just for the Geekie situation, but especially on the heels of the way George Parros handled Arber Xhekaj?

Dreger: Well, to some degree I think that's fair Gino, although this is unrelated. I mean, this was a legal change by Conor Geekie, even though it was pretty clear that his intent to make the change was to engage in that fight, which is why George Parros and the Department of Player Safety have called this hearing.

But it's also not unusual. Look, Parros and company, they're no stranger to the scrutiny that the Department of Player Safety faces on an annual basis, and particularly in the preseason, because everybody is anxious, including the fan bases, certainly the players and the clubs, to get the regular season underway. But really Gino, it all stems back to the Montreal Canadiens and specifically Arber Xhekaj. 

Now you go back to last Saturday's game, again that was the game where Cedric Pare of the Toronto Maple Leafs collided with Patrik Laine. Now we know Laine is out for the next two to three months with a sprained knee. Arber Xhekaj tried to seek revenge for that. He pummeled Cedric Pare. He was not suspended for that. He was thrown out of the hockey game, but that really kind of got the angst going around the National Hockey League.

Fast forward to Tuesday's game, Ottawa and the Montreal Canadiens, again Xhekaj is in the middle of it with a questionable hit on Tim Stutzle of the Ottawa Senators. One more time, he's ejected from the game. Now people around the National Hockey League are going, 'Okay, wait a minute. Why wasn't Xhekaj suspended in the first place with a one-man fight on Cedric Pare? What if Pare had been injured?' This story could have taken a far more severe turn if that had been the case.

Now, you go back to the Ottawa-Montreal game, again, people calling for a suspension on the Xhekaj hit on Tim Stutzle. Well, some close to the Department of Player Safety Gino say that it was borderline a penalty, and as we can see in the video evidence, in fact, it was a Xhekaj hit that hit the gloves of Tim Stutzle, that hit the stick of Stutzle that did the damage.

Again, a long-winded way of explaining the scrutiny that Parros and company face in the preseason getting ready for what could be a very interesting start to the NHL regular season.

Reda: Yeah, no kidding, there's a theme here. Parros has been really busy dealing with offences in the Atlantic Division during this preseason. The Habs play the Leafs, Bruins and Sens in their first three games in the regular season. Alright, let's move on.

The Global Series continues, the Sabres and Devils in Prague on Friday. Great experience for the growth of the game. But could there be a negative ripple effect here Darren?

Dreger: Yeah, there could be. And it's the fact that you've got inferior rosters having to take to the ice in North America in preseason action. That's no fault of the New Jersey Devils or the Buffalo Sabres. I mean, of course they're going to put their best on the ice in Europe, in this case in Prague, to showcase the game, to showcase their teams, to grow the game globally. That's the whole point of this series. 

But as our colleague Pierre LeBrun alluded to today in The Athletic, maybe the preseason in general is due for some sort of an overhaul, and that has to be negotiated through the collective bargaining agreement between the National Hockey League and the Players Association.

But just to bring it in tune with the preseason Gino, teams are already planning their preseason schedule for next year, so the National Hockey League doesn't commit their clubs to the Global Series until pre-schedule, which is normally in March or April and the bigger market clubs around the National Hockey League don't often want to participate in the Global Series, simply because they lose the gate of their home dates here in North America.

So, I think the preseason overall is due for lengthy conversation among the NHL general managers, owners, NHL head office and the Players Association, so to be determined on all fronts.

Reda: That is Early Trading with Darren Dreger. The full version of Insider Trading with Darren, Pierre LeBrun and Chris Johnston is coming up later on SportsCentre.